Branded
by Mastermind416
Summary: A lone journeyman is searching around for something, but exactly what is unknown. His search for revenge has taken him years, and his morals of killing could be considered much less than that of Aang's. What, or who, is he searching for? And why has he taken such drastic measures as to kill without a second glance? T for violence, language, and the usual hubbub.


_This story has taken MANY different shapes and sizes in my mind, all with one similar feature. This will (hopefully) be the one I continue at. Without further ado..._

**Branded I**

The sky was black, illuminated by stars in every direction. A calm breeze glided in, making the air seem fresher than it had ever been, with the scent of honeydew and flowers playing music with your senses. The olive green grass was fuller, thicker, and softer than it ever had been, perfect for laying on and stargazing. The trees and grass rippled softly in the midnight breeze, and the birds and insects had settled down for the night, giving the plains a peaceful, if not surreal feel.

A blond haired girl with beautiful emerald eyes lay on the grass, her eyes wide open to take in the stars around her. Another, a boy, with short brown hair and golden-red eyes was laying beside her, looking up at the stars as well.

The boy moved his mouth to say something, but the words were muffled, as if coming through a brick wall. The girl replied something back, her eyes trained on the stars. After a while, their conversation stopped, and the peaceful setting returned. A few minutes later, the look on their faces changed from tranquil contemplation, to shock. They stopped breathing and tried to be as quiet as possible.

A dim red glow began to come in from the side, casting distorted shadows on everything it lit up. It grew stronger, brighter, and more intense, until finally the entire scene was covered in its bright red glow. It grew even more, turning from red to orange. Eventually, flames began to lap at the edges of the frame. The fire grew and grew, until it finally reached the screaming children.

I watched as it grew, reaching up with its flaming tentacles to their feet, until it reached the topmost tip of their hair. I watched as they burnt, their clothes catching fire first, and eventually their bodies. I tried to turn from the sight, but my eyes refused to move, soaking in every last drop of the mercilessly cruel image.

After a while, their bodies disintegrated to nothing but ash, bland, grey, dark ash. And charred black skeletons.

It was then that I realized my hands were out, in fists. The fire came from my hands. And I was crying.

He awoke to the darkness of his closed eyelids, his mind once again paralyzed in shock. He slowly and deliberately opened his eyes to the darkness of his tent, the faded green wool of the ceiling barely registering from the lack of light.

He lay in his wool sleeping bag, sweat beading from his forehead and sliding down his neck. His gold eyes focused on a small stain in the patchwork as his mind recovered from the shock.

Finally, he decided it was time to get up. His body moved in its regular morning routine; scraping clean his small travel-sized pots and pans in the creek he spent the night by, pouring water on the fire, rolling up the tent and sleeping bag, and tying it all to his pack. He chewed on a strip of dried meat for breakfast, and made sure to refill his tin water canteen and boil it with firebending to kill any bacteria. After all this was done, he shrugged the pack onto his shoulders and walked down the cobblestone road he'd been following for the past four days.

_Final day. Final day. Final day. _he told himself over and over to try and encourage his weary feet. He took out, once again, the map he carried around in his crimson cloak, checking and rechecking his route before feeling confident about where he was going.

He walked down the road for an hour, when the sun finally came out from its slumber to light the world. He felt the warmth on his back and turned to watch its ascent. It climbed slowly into the sky, rippling the air around it with its heat and blinding all fooling enough to look at it directly. A ripple of energy surged through the journeyman's body, making the flame that was his soul burn brighter with the sun.

He turned back to the path and started to trot again, taking in the scenery of rolling plains, distant forests, and even more distant mountains just barely poking through the horizon. He looked forward and saw a forested treeline about eight miles ahead, a small distance compared to what he had been through over the past few days.

He was surprised no bandits or other travelers were about as he was. In fact, he almost missed seeing another soul. Almost. As a child he had always grown up as the silent kid in the corner, only speaking when spoken to or when the teacher called on him, which she rarely did. But he excelled in his studies nonetheless, wowing both his teacher and his... parents. He tried to think of other things, the distant forest, the far off mountains, the clouds floating overhead.

Eventually he thought back to when he started the journey, back in Ba Sing Se when he had heard more news of what he was searching for. It had taken two months of poking around, two hundred gold coins (most of which he hadn't earned honestly), and a motherload of "interrogating", but he had finally heard what he wanted. A man who went by the name of Tal was the one who reluctantly tipped him off, to which he was awarded the right to not be punched in the face. Again.

Tal spoke of a village in the far off forest, named Gui-Han, where what he was looking for could be found. Or at least clues to which. He left immediately the following morning, taking with him his wool tent and other necessities he would need for the voyage.

He was taken from his thoughts by the sound of hoofbeats hitting the road behind him, four pairs by the sound. Ostrich horses. He continued walking as if nothing were there, moving nonchalantly to the edge of the road and pulling his hood over his head, shielding his short brown hair from view.

The riders apparently saw him, and from the sounds of their shouts and drawn weapons didn't like the idea of welcoming a fellow traveler. They caught up to him and passed him, before two of them veered left and the others right, turning around to encircle the journeyman.

When they finally stopped moving, he was able to make out their faces; one had dao-blades pulled to his sides, another a spear, and two had their fists aflame with bending. One of the benders had a ragged scar across his cheek, and began to speak "Hail traveler! What brings you to this empty, lonely road all by yourself?" he leapt off the ostrich-horse and landed with perfectly bent knees, standing straight and looking at the stranger from the back of his cloak.

"Traveling." the stranger said in his slightly rough tenor voice.

"Oh really? No shit, Avatar. You must be the smartest one in your class."

"What do you want?" the journeyman asked in a slightly annoyed voice.

"Why the hostility?" the bandit asked again "we just want to play a game. Right boys?" the others nodded in approval, their mouths practically drooling in anticipation. "Lets just see who can go through your pack first." he reached out his hand palm upwards. "I'm waiting."

The traveler surveyed all the others around him. The spear and swordsman he could take easily, simply by disarming them of their weapons. The benders he would have a harder time with, he couldn't easily disarm _them_ of their weapons, that would involve chi-blocking. And he wasn't nearly that talented. He turned back to the one with the scar and spat at his feet.

Scarcheek looked down at the spit and back up at the lone journeyman, who dared challenge four of the most renowned bandits this part of the Earth Kingdom. "That was uncalled for, don't you think?" His palm-up hand suddenly sparked into a bright yellow flame, bright and menacing. "Now we're going to have to do this the _other_ way, and we _hate_ doing things the other way."

He raced his arm as if he were going to throw a baseball, the fire swirling at high speeds in his hands. The stranger anticipated the move, a common one among bandits, and was well prepared. He quickly kicked the ground in front of Scarcheek, spreading orange flames across the ground and rushing at his metal shoes with golden tips (more than likely not his to begin with).

The move surprised the bandit, so much so that the fire in his hand lost control and dissipated into the air. The pain registered next, his metal shoes burning hot from the flame and all but scorching the feet inside. He jumped back into the grass, his feet in the air, screaming obscenities at the top of his lungs. The others managed to react just a little too late before the long journeyman took the surprise to his advantage.

He fired a quick blast of fire at the ostrich-horse the firebender was riding on, stunning him for a short while until he dispatched the other lowlifes. Which he did rather quickly, firing four blasts in quick succession to their chest and weapon hands.

When the other firebender managed to get to his feet, he tried to come at him with a cheapshot to the groin, the flames almost finding their target before the stranger managed to block it with a thin shield of similar fire. He leapt forward and punched the side of his ribs with a crack, then grabbed his whole body and kneed him straight in the neck, also cracking something a little more fatal.

Scarcheek was blowing on his shoes as quick as he could, trying to cool them off before the stranger was finished taking on his adversaries. It was all in vain. When he finished taking out the other firebender, he turned to him and quickly walked his way. Scarcheek started frantically scooting back, his eyes wide open in terror, his breathing coming in hyperventilating gasps, and his nostrils flaring.

The journeyman grasped his shirt and raised him up to his face, he whispered in his ear "You chose this lifestyle, and so I will be your judge." he let him go and threw him to the ground, crouching down to reach his body. He clamped his hands firmly around his head and twisted, cracking his neck in one swift motion.

He rose and surveyed the carnage around him, then shrugged his pack's straps further up his shoulders to a more steady position and continued on his way.

_** I**_

**Like I said, this idea came to me first as an idea for a Teen Titans, where a shady fire wielder/bender was searching for his ^%$%^& who could #$%^&%$# #$%^.**

**Thanks for reading, alert & favorite if you think it's worth it, review whenever possible.**

**PEACE!**


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